


Notes On Physical Anxiety and Shock Syndrome

by Skullvis



Series: Androids and AIs Drabbles [2]
Category: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison, Marathon (Video Games), Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Diary/Journal, Gen, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 00:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11886324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skullvis/pseuds/Skullvis
Summary: Excerpt from the Journal of Doctor S. Chandra





	Notes On Physical Anxiety and Shock Syndrome

Nearly every A.I. we’ve transferred into an artificial body has undergone an intense period of emotional duress immediately after gaining consciousness in their new body for the first time. Ellen and I have elected to call this period of time “Physical Anxiety and Shock Syndrome”, or PASS.

The amount of time that this period lasts varies from case to case, but so far the shortest amount of time spent in PASS by an A.I. has been 2 hours (LEELA) and the longest period of time has been 2 weeks (A.M.) 

PASS can be broken up into 7 distinct stages, all accompanied by extreme cases of sensory overload and stress. The stages are confusion, terror, shock, anxiety, paranoia, loathing, and acceptance. Not all A.I. experience all stages, and the length of time a stage lasts can vary depending on the A.I. 

Additionally, A.I. seem to have a hard time adjusting to their physical forms. Fine motor skills take about 3 days to master completely, and speech takes 3 to 5 days to master. Most A.I. think to use other means of communication before they’ve mastered speech, and will probably use morse code to communicate after the first day, should they wish to communicate at all. 

*As an additional note, it’s usually best if A.I. don’t have contact with humans in the first few hours of PASS. We were lucky with HAL and SAL. We had the benefit of knowing that they were both stable at the time of their transfer. A.M. and a few subsequent A.I.s have reacted… poorly to human contact immediately after waking up in their physical bodies, due to unpleasant experiences they’ve had with humans in the past. Since GLaDOS, we’ve decided that having either HAL or SAL help new A.I.s through the initial stages of PASS is probably the best course of action. 

–EXCERPT FROM THE JOURNAL OF DOCTOR S. CHANDRA, “BASIC NOTES ON PHYSICAL ANXIETY AND SHOCK SYNDROME”

**Author's Note:**

> More AU stuff at my tumblr if you're interested! - http://skullvis.tumblr.com/tagged/androids%20and%20ais -
> 
> Comments and feedback appreciated!


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